Safer Cookware Cheatsheet

There is no part 1 — and you are not missing anything

The address of this page still says "part 2." That is the URL the original post was published at years ago, and links point at it, so it stays. There is no part 1 on this site, there is no prerequisite to read first, and nothing below depends on one. If you came here from a search result and went looking for the earlier half, stop looking — this page is self-contained.

The question changed since you last read about this

If you've seen an older version of this page, or an older post about Teflon, it probably said something like: nonstick pans use a forever chemical, avoid them entirely. That was closer to true in 2005 than it is now. The specific chemical behind the original concern — PFOA — has actually been out of most nonstick coatings for over a decade. What hasn't gone away is the coating itself, PTFE, which is chemically different and carries a narrower, different risk profile.

We've written the full regulatory history and evidence review separately, because it's detailed enough to deserve its own page: PFAS in nonstick cookware: what's actually restricted, and since when. This page doesn't re-run that chemistry. What it does instead is cover the materials that sidestep the question entirely — and the one category where we have a verified, in-stock pick to point you to.

Two states already ban it; the federal rule doesn't yet

Worth knowing if you're wondering whether this is settled: it isn't, federally. Minnesota's Amara's Law banned intentionally added PFAS in cookware sold in the state starting January 1, 2025 — one of eleven product categories the law covers. Maine's PFAS-in-products law reaches cookware on the same timeline a year later, January 1, 2026. There's no equivalent federal ban; the closest thing is the PFOA-specific industry phase-out and a 2020 EPA rule requiring review before any company could bring a long-chain PFAS coating back. That's a real gap between where two states have landed and where federal regulation currently sits — and it's the kind of gap that tends to close over years, not overnight.

None of that means a PTFE pan already in your cabinet is doing active harm. It means the regulatory picture is moving, state by state, faster than the federal one.

Cast iron: no coating, no question

Cast iron is the simplest cookware category to reason about, for the same structural reason stainless steel and glass are simple in food storage: there's no lining to evaluate. What you cook on is the metal itself, with a layer of polymerized oil built up through seasoning — not a manufactured nonstick coating. There's no PTFE question to ask, and on a plain (unenameled) skillet, no glaze question either.

Lodge's Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet, the 12-inch that ships with a silicone handle holder, is our top pick for exactly that reason: it arrives ready to cook on, and cast iron pans routinely last decades with basic care — dry it, oil it lightly, don't run it through the dishwasher. The handle holder is a removable accessory for a cooler grip at the stove, not a coating on the cooking surface, which is the whole point of the category. Lodge publishes the claim in its own words — cast iron made without PFAS, seasoned with nothing but baked-on vegetable oil rather than a coating (checked September 10, 2026). Utopia Kitchen's cast iron skillet is the lower-cost way into the category if you're trying it for the first time rather than replacing a full set.

The trade-offs are real and worth naming: cast iron is heavy, it needs maintenance that a coated pan doesn't, and it's not the pan you reach for with delicate fish or a finicky egg. It earns its place here because it's honest — nothing to disclose, nothing to take on trust.

Stainless steel: the category without a product pick yet

Stainless steel belongs in this conversation for the same reason cast iron does — no coating, no lining, nothing that can flake or off-gas. Multi-ply stainless (steel bonded to an aluminum or copper core for even heating) is a standard, widely available option for stovetop cooking, and it's the material we recommend by default for dishware for the same structural reason.

We don't have a verified stainless cookware pick sourced through our product catalog yet, so we're naming the category rather than a specific pan. If you're shopping today: look for 18/8 or 18/10 stainless (the numbers refer to chromium/nickel content), and don't be put off by food sticking while you learn the technique — that's a heat-and-fat issue, not a safety one.

Glass and enameled bakeware

For the oven rather than the stovetop, plain glass bakeware carries the same "nothing to migrate" logic as glass food storage — no coating on the food-contact surface at all. Enameled cast iron (the Dutch-oven style pieces) sits in a different category: enamel is fused glass over metal, and it's the exterior glaze color, not the cooking surface, where trace lead has historically shown up on some cookware brands. That's a lead question, not a PFAS one, and it's covered in more depth on our lead-free dishes guide — including which brands publish lead testing and which colors carry more of that risk.

We don't have a verified enameled cast iron pick sourced through our catalog yet either, which is part of why the picks above are plain cast iron rather than enameled: it's the sourced, verifiable option today.

What actually matters if you keep a nonstick pan

Not every nonstick pan needs to go in the trash. If replacing every coated pan in the kitchen isn't realistic right now, the habits that matter most are free:

• Retire anything scratched, pitted, or flaking. This is the documented exposure pathway — damaged coating sheds more when heated, regardless of the pan's age.
• Don't preheat an empty nonstick pan, and keep the burner at low-to-medium heat.
• Run a vent or crack a window when the pan is on, especially at higher heat.
• Keep pet birds out of the kitchen when nonstick cookware is in use. Birds' respiratory systems are far more sensitive to overheated nonstick fumes than a human's — well-documented cases of pet bird deaths from a badly overheated pan are the reason this warning exists, and it still holds for current coatings, not just older ones.

The full breakdown of what's restricted, what evidence supports which claim, and what "PFAS-free" on a label actually commits a manufacturer to is on the PFAS in nonstick cookware explainer — worth reading before you decide whether to replace anything at all.